South Korea is preparing to start vaccinating its people against the coronavirus in February, with plans to start inoculating the general public in July so they can reach herd immunity in November.

Free vaccinations are expected to be made available first to front-line medical workers in late February, via British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc's vaccine, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Thursday.

Coronavirus tests are carried out at a temporary center at Seoul station on Dec. 14, 2020, as South Korea faces surging cases of the virus. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Agency director Jeong Eun Kyeong told a press conference that the government aims to lower virus-related fatality rates in the first half of this year by mainly vaccinating elderly people, who tend to develop serious symptoms when infected, and shut down community transmission effectively by expanding the target inoculation groups in the second half.

The agency said that by the end of March, shots will have been given to about 1.3 million people such as the medical workers that treat COVID-19 patients in hospitals and the elderly living in nursing homes.

Between April and June, vaccines will be made available to 9 million others such as people aged 65 and older, and other medical workers.

People aged 18 to 64 will get their shots between July and September, according to the agency.

People under 18 and pregnant women are not included in the vaccination drive. But they could be included depending on the results of future clinical trials, according to the government.

The government initially came under criticism for not securing doses quickly enough, prompting President Moon Jae In to speak directly with the CEO of U.S. biotech company Moderna Inc. at the end of last year.

The country has since secured vaccines for 56 million people, more than the country's 51 million people. The government is in talks to purchase shots for an additional 20 million people.

South Korea plans to make available vaccines from U.S. pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. and Moderna in the second quarter of this year, and those from another U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. in the third quarter.

On Friday, the country reported 469 new coronavirus infection cases, bringing the total to 77,395.